1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to a system and method for providing instructional material to users, and more specifically, to a web-based system and method for providing customized instructional material to a plurality of users, where the instructional material is modified to match each skill level of each user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Existing instructional methods and tools available today are rigid and not structured to meet the requirements of a particular user. For example, in most classroom settings, a student is placed in a grade level that is initially based on the age of the student. An assessment test may be given to determine where to place the student within a particular subject level if the school offers multiple levels within one grade. For example, an English course may include a remedial level, an average or “regular” level, and an advanced or “honor” level. Once the student is placed within a particular course level, the student, along with the rest of the class, is given a series of lessons taken from a lesson plan chosen by the instructor, which may or may not be approved by a faculty head. The student may be tested periodically and, at the end of a school year, the instructor, or evaluator, will give the student a grade, which should be indicative of the student's proficiency in the course.
If the student receives a passing grade, then he or she may advance to the next level. If the student fails the course, then the student must repeat the course. If the student fails too many courses, the student may be required to repeat the grade. In some grade school systems, the student may take remedial courses during the summer break between school years which, if successfully completed, allow the student to continue to the next level. A lesson plan is rarely, if ever, modified to accommodate the proficiency or skill level of a particular student, or even for a small group of students.
Because of the sheer number of students and the lack of resources available, class sizes typically prevent meaningful one-on-one interaction between an instructor and a student. The more fortunate students who are struggling with the subject matter may get private tutoring or help from family or friends. The students who excel in a particular subject matter typically receive the top grades and usually have to wait until the following school year to advance to the next grade level. These gifted students may lose interest in the certain courses because of the lack of intellectual stimulation. In addition, in today's schools, many students come from different cultural and social backgrounds and English may not be their first language. Thus, a language barrier may exist, adding another level of difficulty and frustration for both the English-speaking and non-English speaking students, and their instructor.
Educators take these factors into consideration, in addition to others, in developing instructional and educational programs. For example, various governing bodies, such as state and local school boards, establish educational requirements or recommendations. The educational requirements or recommendations are typically embodied in formal guidelines or standards. Such requirements or recommendations will be referred to herein as “educational standards.” Educators are encouraged, or required, to incorporate the educational standards in their educational plans.
To assist the educators, educational resource providers, such as textbook providers, generate resources that substantially correlate to the educational standards. The resource providers presently attempt to perform this correlation by obtaining the educational standards and, in a subjective determination by the resource provider, design resources correlated to the educational standards. For example, a textbook company creates social studies textbooks for a sixth grade skill level in accordance with state educational standards for sixth grade students. However, these resources may not include all the material preferred by an educator for a specific subject. In addition, resources quickly become outdated and do not take into account differences in skill levels between students within a grade level. Although the resources may be aligned to the appropriate educational standards, not all students in a class may be at the same education skill level. Thus, teaching from one textbook for a particular grade level may not be an efficient method of teaching, and may leave some students behind. Teachers do not have time to allow students to repeatedly practice the skills necessary to advance their skill levels, since the teachers must progress through a range of subject matter in accordance with educational standards. Thus, students do not necessarily receive enough time to perform exercises to increase their skill levels.
Additionally, students often are pressured to meet educational requirements to advance to the next grade level, regardless of whether the students' skill levels have advanced. However, in a given grade level of students, a majority of the students may test lower in skill levels than the given grade. Thus, a teacher will provide learning material that is aligned to the lower skill level, which may not necessarily meet the educational requirements specified for grade level.
With the vast use of networked technologies, such as the Internet and the World Wide Web, new teaching tools and methods have been created to assist educators. Some classrooms are equipped with computer workstations. However, most of the teaching tools and methodologies used with computers today adopt the classic classroom paradigm described above.
The LEXILE Framework for Reading (MetaMetrics, Inc.) includes a method for analyzing reading material using, primarily, the word frequency and sentence lengths in a pre-determined block of text. LEXILE then assigns a LEXILE Score to the text based on a predetermined scale. The LEXILE Framework also provides assessment tests for students and provides a LEXILE score for each student. Educators may use the LEXILE system to match a student's LEXILE score to appropriate reading material with the same LEXILE score. However, this system merely matches specific reading content to students with certain skill levels. An educator using the LEXILE system typically cannot use one learning resource or textbook for a class, but rather has to provide multiple materials to meet each student's assessed skill level. This is a burdensome task for the educator.
Thus, there is a need for a learning tool that allows a user to progress in the learning of a subject matter in a manner suited, customized or adapted for that particular user. There is a need for such a learning tool that does not demand the extensive resources required for one-on-one or small classroom settings. There is also a need for a learning tool that continuously assesses the learning progress of an individual user and customizes learning content suited the particular user while also aligning the learning content with applicable educational standards.